Posts Tagged ‘preacher’

In past blogs I have let certain fallen preachers have it. As I sit and contemplate the recent death of Zachery Tims and the scandalous mystery surrounding his death (It is still not clear how he died) as well as his past (affair and divorce). I now realize that as angry as I have been at those who have fallen that anger has been misdirected and also sourced in fear. It has been misdirected because it is really a shield to hide my grief. It is a shield to protect me from the sadness I feel when someone I look up to has disappointed me and let me down. Deep down inside I want those who are in leadership to be flawless and perfect. The truth is they are not and that is reality. I have to accept it and grieve it. We as the church have placed our leaders on a pedestal and have not taken into account that they are men. They need to have good character. They need to have integrity. But we go beyond that and make them rock stars/celebrities/messiahs. The problem is when they don’t measure up we kick them when they fall under the weight of being a rock star/celebrity/messiahs.

At the same time my anger also springs from the fear that I will fall as well. It is a fear that I will become like those we see on TV and in the news. This fear is irrational as I am not living a rock star/celebrity lifestyle and precautions have been taken to not go that route. There are people surrounding me and practices that ground me in God. As I think about these things I realize that many of those who have met their ministry demise have not had these things and it causes me to grieve. Yes instead of pointing the finger I grieve…I grieve like David did for Jonathan and Saul:

How the mighty have fallen! The weapons of war are perished!
2 Samuel 1:27

David wrote a lament, a song of mourning for his fallen comrades. This includes Saul who had gotten outside the will of God and attempted to take David’s life numerous times. David still includes him because a fallen soldier is a fallen soldier. David also ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow to remind future generations of how these fallen soldiers met their demise. Zachery Tims was a man of God who did many great things and blessed many in the community. No matter what the outcome of the investigation or the sins of his past..let us remember our fallen soldier.

Let us keep the Tims family and New Destiny Christian Center in prayer and as we do that let us not judge; point the finger; or even speculate on the circumstances surrounding his death but let us ask some questions of ourselves: Have we lifted our leaders on pedestals so high that we cannot see their humanity? Have we taken time to grieve over our fallen soldiers? Have we begun to teach future generations to avoid the traps that can lead to their demise?